# I Pit people who use the word "retarded" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 2, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091 "2011-01-02T00:02:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/41 "2011-01-02T04:17:23Z")
> [@rolandgunslinger](#): > > This pitting is retarded.. When I saw the title of this thread, I challenged my husband as to how many responses it would be until someone called the OP retarded. He said first one, I said third - I was righter. 🙂 > [@Ludovic](#): > > I hate people who only use politically correct speech. I think they talk like a fag, and their shit’s all retarded. This made me snort out loud. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![iamnotbatman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@iamnotbatman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamnotbatman)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/42 "2011-01-02T04:36:07Z")
If you liked that, you’ll love _idiocracy_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/43 "2011-01-02T05:06:16Z")
The thing is, for there to be any justification for taking offense, you pretty much have to pick one of the following. Either A) “retarded” is an adjective describing persons afflicted with the disorder of mental retardation\*, and its use as a general insult is offensive because it implies that retarded people are bad, or B) “retarded” has become first and foremost a general insult, and applying it to those afflicted with mental retardation is offensive because it’s insulting to them in the same way it would be to anyone else. If it’s the former, then saying “Joe is in Special Needs classes because he’s retarded” isn’t offensive, because that’s the definition of the word. If it’s the latter, then something like “being a Cowboys fan is retarded” isn’t offensive (well, except to Cowboys fans, but they don’t count), because the word is a general insult and doesn’t refer to a specific group of individuals. You can’t go both ways, and there is no rational justification for taking offense at every single usage of the word. \*As for this: [QUOTE=Fish Nya] You can’t say you are using it the medical way because you are not a doctor. [/QUOTE] …the fuck? Last I checked, there was no certification requirement for use of language. My cousin is anemic; can I say _that_ in the medical sense, or do I have to use it only as a synonym for “unenergetic”? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/44 "2011-01-02T05:43:58Z")
> [@Roland\_Orzabal](#): > > The thing is, for there to be any justification for taking offense, you pretty much have to pick one of the following. Either A) “retarded” is an adjective describing persons afflicted with the disorder of mental retardation\*, and its use as a general insult is offensive because it implies that retarded people are bad, or B) “retarded” has become first and foremost a general insult, and applying it to those afflicted with mental retardation is offensive because it’s insulting to them in the same way it would be to anyone else. > > If it’s the former, then saying “Joe is in Special Needs classes because he’s retarded” isn’t offensive, because that’s the definition of the word. If it’s the latter, then something like “being a Cowboys fan is retarded” isn’t offensive (well, except to Cowboys fans, but they don’t count), because the word is a general insult and doesn’t refer to a specific group of individuals. You can’t go both ways, and there is no rational justification for taking offense at every single usage of the word. > > \*As for this: > …the fuck? Last I checked, there was no certification requirement for use of language. My cousin is anemic; can I say _that_ in the medical sense, or do I have to use it only as a synonym for “unenergetic”? Or option C) The use of the word “retarded” is offensive because a better, less derogatory term has come into use. ---
**Author:** ![iamnotbatman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@iamnotbatman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamnotbatman)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/45 "2011-01-02T05:50:06Z")
(_cough_) _pussy_ (_cough_) Apologies for the above remark if you are in fact an actual vagina. ETA: or a kitty cat ETA2: wait a second, do I need to apologize if you are a vagina or a kitty cat? I don’t think so. I take back the apology. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/46 "2011-01-02T05:52:41Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > The poster didn’t call Dick Clark retarded. He said he sounded retarded. Which he does, bless him. Should the poster have said Dick Clark sounds Palin-American? I absolutely _hooted_ with laughter at this. Palin-American – that’s pure genius right there. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/47 "2011-01-02T05:59:58Z")
> [@iamnotbatman](#): > > (_cough_) _pussy_ (_cough_) > > Apologies for the above remark if you are in fact an actual vagina. > > ETA: or a kitty cat > > ETA2: wait a second, do I need to apologize if you are a vagina or a kitty cat? I don’t think so. I take back the apology. Jesus man, do you have sand in your retarded? ---
**Author:** ![iamnotbatman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@iamnotbatman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamnotbatman)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/48 "2011-01-02T06:09:22Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Jesus man, do you have sand in your retarded? Actually, I am very sensitive about this whole issue. I own a retarded pussy with a crippled asshole, and it frequently gets sand up inside its asshole. I am very upset right now, and I hope that in the future you don’t make hurtful comments like that. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/49 "2011-01-02T07:34:52Z")
This thread is totally developmentally delayed. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/50 "2011-01-02T07:59:33Z")
😃 > [@](#): > > I think the term went out of use because of people using the word retard as a cut down to people they didn’t like. As in “You’re SUCH a retard” “YOU retard”. Dead on! There is a difference between the term retarded and the insult “retard” Retarded just means SLOW. I’ll usually say he/she is MR. Developmentally delayed seems to be too euphaninmisticky, and special needs is too general. Some people are too hypersensative. The orgional post was to a comment where someone said that Dick Clark sounded retarded. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/51 "2011-01-02T08:08:25Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Or option C) The use of the word “retarded” is offensive because a better, less derogatory term has come into use. So, it’s offensive because there exists a term that is less offensive than it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen single-sentence circular reasoning before. Nicely done. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/52 "2011-01-02T08:53:28Z")
> [@Fish\_Nya](#): > > I can’t speak for the OP but it doesn’t matter if the comment that made them post this was “in an insulting manner” or not. From what I understood that was just the final straw. But it does matter. Context always matters. If someone had said, “The growth of my cancer was retarded by the chemotherapy,” would the OP be justified in flipping out over it? Of course not, because in that context, “retarded” isn’t an insult. Noting that Dick Clark’s speech impediment makes him sound like he’s mentally disabled is not an insult, it’s an observation about the way his illness has effected his physical abilities. Getting upset over the use of the word in that context is, indeed, hypersensitive. > [@](#): > > The whole “can’t you take a joke” thing has been used by so many people over the years as a way of erasing other people it’s not even funny. And the idea that someone is over sensitive is insulting, too. Sure, some people might be. Or they might just face something over and over again that it acts like a trigger. It might be just a joke or something funny to you, but to the other person it might just be the Nth time they’ve heard that joke or insult in a day. You are saying that they have no right to find something offensive, that it is wrong for them to do so. People deal with issues others use as joke in their real life. Of course he has the “right” to find it offensive. He has the right to be offended by whatever the hell he wants to be offended by. This isn’t a “rights” issue, and it’s ridiculous to even bring the term into this discussion. > [@](#): > > I am not offended myself the use of retard as an insult. But I _know that it is offensive._ The person who is offended is not over-sensitive. I’m just not as sensitive as them. And again, that has nothing to do with this thread, because the usage of “retarded” that set off the OP was not an insult. > [@](#): > > No. Being a person with mental disabilities is not good or bad, it’s just a thing you can be. A person can face problems because of that, but what they are is not anything. Being blind is not bad. Being deaf is not bad. Being disabled in anyway is not bad. The effects of something being bad is different than the thing itself being bad. And this is just fucking stupid. Yes, it is bad to be blind. It’s bad to be deaf. It’s bad to not be able to walk. And it’s bad to be retarded. Being these things doesn’t make you a bad person, obviously, but they are drawbacks. They are disabilities. They are qualities that, almost universally, are not wanted by the people who have them. That people who are blind, deaf, lame, or retarded shouldn’t be discriminated against because of their disabilities, goes without saying. They shouldn’t be excluded from society, or barred from doing things that they can do, just because there are other things they can’t do. But trying to pretend that there’s no qualitative difference between having arms, and not having arms, is asinine. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/53 "2011-01-02T13:22:51Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > I absolutely _hooted_ with laughter at this. Palin-American – that’s pure genius right there. > > Well done. Wish I could take credit for it but I read it elsewhere. > [@etv78](#): > > Or option C) The use of the word “retarded” is offensive because a better, less derogatory term has come into use. And what term would be satisfactory? Dick Clark sounds mentally challenged? Dick Clark sounds special? Dick Clark sounds developmentally delayed? Whatever word or words used to denote someone with severely stunted intelligence is an insult because no one wants to be retarded/delayed/special. No matter how many times we replace the word. You can start calling retarded people “Golden sparkly geniuses” and in no time at all it will be used as an insult. There’s nothing you or any other Language Police (I’m looking at you, **Fish** ) can do about it. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/54 "2011-01-02T14:19:59Z")
> [@Fish\_Nya](#): > > No. Being a person with mental disabilities is not good or bad, it’s just a thing you can be. No, its just a thing _you_ are. (hurr hurr hurr) > [@](#): > > Having disabilities is not bad Seriously, you are retarded. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/55 "2011-01-02T14:57:23Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Being these things doesn’t make you a bad person, obviously, but they are drawbacks. They are disabilities. They’re not disabilities. They’re life challenges. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/56 "2011-01-02T17:51:24Z")
I’d pit people who pit people who use perfectly useful words that have lately been designated as rude for no good reason that I’ve ever heard of, except that’s kinda mentally disabled. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/57 "2011-01-02T17:56:43Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Palin-American Stealing. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/58 "2011-01-02T18:14:27Z")
Don’t worry bro, there’s plenty of tards out there living really kickass lives. My first wife was retarded and she’s a pilot. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/59 "2011-01-02T18:28:07Z")
> [@lorene](#): > > Is _mentally challenged_ what people are calling it these days? > [@Roland\_Orzabal](#): > > So, it’s offensive because there exists a term that is less offensive than it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen single-sentence circular reasoning before. Nicely done. Aaannnnndddd… now the term of art insult in grade schools is “challenged”. So what term will you new come up with as the inoffensive and hence “correct” was to describe a person of less than normal intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091/60 "2011-01-02T19:07:55Z")
Sounds like some people here need to get off the short bus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-use-the-word-retarded/566091.md?page=4)